A stark commentary on gender violence and identities of women in India, 27-year-old Spandita Malik’s documentary photography breaks away from the aesthetics of what she calls “the colonial lens”. Born in Chandigarh and based in Kansas City, USA, she is the only Indian woman in The 30’s New and Emerging Photographers to Watch 2022 list, announced in January. Touted as the “go-to outlet to discover up-and-coming photographers” by Time (2015), The 30 invites nominations for budding photographers every year through visual journalists, curators, filmmakers, and professional photographers. Spandita was nominated by Elizabeth Krist, who worked at the National Geographic for 21 years.
“I met Elizabeth at a portfolio review for The New York Times [NYT] on March 7, 2021. Applicants get to choose their reviewers; I chose her,” says Spandita, a visiting assistant professor (under AICAD teaching fellowship) at the Kansas City Art Institute, over phone . In the portfolio, Elizabeth particularly liked Spandita’s Nari project. “She told me she’d been looking at different projects in documentary photography, but Nari falls under a new philosophy of documentary photography. She was excited about the social practice area and the new language.”
